Which of the following districts of Bihar has the highest percentage of Scheduled Tribe population in 2011 census ?

Question

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Correct — B, Katihar. On the Census 2011 district figures compiled by the National Health Systems Resource Centre, Katihar's Scheduled Tribe population is about 6 per cent of the district total, while Jamui, Banka and Purnia each stand at about 4 per cent — so Katihar is clearly the highest of the four offered. The ranking is not an artefact of one compilation, which is what makes it safe to rely on. The Government of Bihar's own district-wise Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe table, drawn from the Primary Census Abstract for the previous census, puts Katihar at 5.9 per cent against Jamui 4.8, Banka 4.7 and Purnea 4.4, with the state as a whole at 0.9 per cent. Two different censuses, two different sources, the same order. Set those numbers against the state background and the answer stops being arbitrary. Bihar's Scheduled Tribe share is only about 1 per cent of its population, because the tribal heartland of undivided Bihar — the Chota Nagpur plateau — went to Jharkhand when the state was divided on 15 November 2000. What remains is concentrated in a few pockets, and Katihar's, in the Seemanchal belt where Bihar meets West Bengal and Jharkhand, is one of the two largest. One honest qualification belongs on this card: in the same Census 2011 compilation, Pashchim Champaran also rounds to 6 per cent, so a claim that Katihar leads every district in Bihar is finer than the published rounding can support. Within the four options the question actually gives, however, Katihar wins by a clear two percentage points, and nothing in the question turns on the West Champaran comparison.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Genuinely one of Bihar's more tribal districts, at about 4 per cent in Census 2011 and 4.8 per cent in the previous census — but roughly two percentage points behind Katihar in both. It is the most tempting wrong answer because Jamui sits on the Jharkhand border in the hill country of south Bihar, which is where a candidate expects the tribal population to be.  (c) About 4 per cent in Census 2011, and 4.7 per cent in the earlier count — third of the four on both. Banka adjoins Jamui in the same south Bihar upland belt along the Jharkhand border, so it shares Jamui's plausibility without ever having led the table.  (d) About 4 per cent in Census 2011 and 4.4 per cent earlier, the lowest of the four. It is Katihar's immediate neighbour in Seemanchal and has a large tribal population in absolute terms, which is exactly the confusion the option exploits — a big district can hold many tribal residents and still have a smaller percentage than the district next door.

Concept: Scheduled Tribes are specified State by State: under Article 342 the President, after consulting the Governor, notifies the communities that shall be deemed Scheduled Tribes in relation to a particular State, so the same community can be Scheduled in one State and not in another. That constitutional design is why Bihar's tribal profile changed overnight in 2000. Undivided Bihar had a very large tribal population concentrated in the Chota Nagpur plateau; when Jharkhand was carved out on 15 November 2000 almost all of it went with the new state, leaving residual Bihar with a Scheduled Tribe share of roughly 1 per cent — one of the smallest of any large Indian state. What survives in Bihar is not spread evenly but sits in two peripheral pockets: the Seemanchal districts of the north-east, where Katihar and Purnia adjoin West Bengal and Jharkhand, and the Terai of West Champaran along the Nepal border, whose tribal population is largely Tharu. The exam habitually tests percentage rather than absolute numbers, and the two rankings differ, because Bihar's districts vary enormously in total population.

State PCS 2024 Q49 — Geography PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q49 — Geography PYQ with Answer